Superstars or future stars?

It took $US250 million to lure David Beckham to sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy. He is already being touted as the saviour of US soccer. I wonder.

Christian ministries have a David Beckham saviour mentality to leadership development and selection. Hire a superstar and our success is assured. I wonder.

I prefer AC Milan's approach to growing soccer players. The Italian club is running junior soccer camps half way around the world in Australia this summer. Boys and girls between 6-15 years old get to train with the “World's Best” over five days. Daniele Massaro, World Cup and Campions League winner will be coaching at each camp.

To quote the promo:

The AC Milan Youth Development coaching staff offers high lever expertise and uses skills and techniques that are used to coach junior players at the incredibly successful AC Milan Academy in Italy. The coaches are flying to Australia for this limited period to develop the football skills and to improve technique, teamwork and tactical awareness of Australian children aged 6-15 years in a fun and safe environment.

My soccer mad son was keen to go, but each of the three camps have totally sold out.

AC Milan Junior Camps are currently run in 22 countries around the world and every year give more than 100,000 local junior footballers the opportunity to work with members of the AC Milan Youth Development Coaching team.

You want the great game of football (don't dare call it “soccer”) to prosper in the US and around the world?

You can buy a Beckham for $250 million. Or you can save your money and put about one tenth of the amount into growing future players everywhere. Wait just a few years and there'll be hundreds of thousands who play and watch the sport. And who knows, you might even discover just a few superstars like Beckham.

So how are you going to find leaders for your ministry? Hire superstars or grow future stars?